Editorial: Self-revealing moment

Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 5:06 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: August 3, 2003

On Monday Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., raised eyebrows with some remarks he made following his appearance on the television news discussion show "Face to Face With Jon Ralston." Gibbons, who is considering a run for the U.S. Senate against Democratic Sen. Harry Reid or for a seat on the Nevada Supreme Court, told Ralston that the state's highest court intrigued him because its pension benefits were better than those he receives as a congressman. The Northern Nevadan's political rise has been inextricably linked to what ostensibly are his fiscally conservative views, so it was an interesting juxtaposition that Gibbons' interest in the Supreme Court is tied in part to taking advantage of the taxpayer-funded pension system for state and local government employees.

But, then again, we're not too surprised by this. This is the same Jim Gibbons who, as a state assemblyman in 1989, voted in favor of a bill that would have raised the pensions of state lawmakers by 300 percent. In fact, he voted for the giant raise twice -- the second time when the Legislature overrode Gov. Bob Miller's veto of the pension hike. Later that year the Legislature, meeting in a special session, repealed the pension increase in a belated bid at damage control. Gibbons won re-election, but he was lucky: The public outcry led to 36 percent of Nevada's incumbent legislators being defeated in 1990, the highest percentage among 11 Western states that year.

Gibbons, the author of the constitutional amendment that requires a two-thirds majority to raise taxes, has made it clear that he believes in smaller government -- unless, that is, he stands to benefit.